Now, the business paper Mint hints that Infosys chief mentor N.R. Narayana Murthy may have decided once and for all that public office is not a good fit.

“I’m used to an orderly way of life. I’m used to a disciplined set of people. I’m used to delivering on promise. I’m used to working with civilized people. Unfortunately in public life in India these are not the attributes that you see.”

His skills and experience is too valuable to be wasted on useless titular roles. If Govt. can use him in another critical challenge to our nation (like UID), they should rope him in.

Think of one these:

1. Make us a power surplus country within next decade.

2. Make our Road Network on Par with that of China within next decade.

3. make us at least 3rd largest Olympic Medal country in next decade. Hmm perhaps Make a Sports comission, bring Cricket under it to fund these ambition.

4. Nationwide Water conservation and water planning to make use of our Sweet water resources to the most.

5. Make us the best inter-connected country in Asia within a decade.

6. Change our railway network to make it possible to travel fast – for example Kanya kumari to delhi within a day. Also increase capacity to avoid having to book month in advance!

Well, this man has the integrity, discipline, managerial competence and most importantly the motivational ability to do any of the above given a free hand. Why not woo him with such a Challenge/mandate?

I’m used to delivering on promise. I’m used to working with civilized people. >>>>>

What kind of civilized people is he speaking? Is it about the people who did not want to sing National Anthem and instead played the instrumental version because their clients won’t understand the anthem!!!!

Less than 20% of us have the power to decide what the rest of us should be doing. Creating a world-class enterprise with loads of wealth does not qualify a person to hold public office.

Unfortunately its the learned masses who are forming the public-opinion. Most of this buzz is in the online world. People creating the buzz have access to bandwidth with handsome pockets. The junta of India have different priorities.

Narayana Murthy’s Catamaran Invests Rs 28Cr In SKS Microfinance. I suppose his battery of staff have done good amount of due diligence and have also updated that these micofinance companies charge more interest than credit-card providers. RBIs concerns on these type of companies is an eye-opener. Then why did he invest in SKS?
SKS is going for a public-issue, even the promoters are off-loading their stake. Has Catamaran made this investment for “profit” or as a “social-cause”?

Instead of trying to get a “office of profit”, Narayan Murthy should focus on core issues like poverty and unequal growth. Instead of going to Chattisgarh, he can just drive towards Raichur, Bellary to get a real-hand experience of equality and why he is more equal than others.

He is a good example of “Trishaku”. Unlike Mr. Mallya he has the qualities to get himself a seat in Rajyasabha and nor does he have a public-goodwill among the masses to get elected directly.

He is speaking about highest level of looting civilization which keeps the top brass in a safe haven like
1. Lehmann Brothers
2. Goldmann Sachs
He grooms and communicates with institutes and people like
1. Satyam
2. Congress junta
3. Phaneesh Murthy
etc

Simple. Now that he has amassed wealth he needs such company to keep it safe, disciplined and “civilized”

“Has Catamaran made this investment for “profit” or as a “social-cause”?”
Is Catamaran a “not for profit” entity? What is wrong in making profit. I don’t think Catamaran is an urban equivalent of NREGA.

“Instead of trying to get a “office of profit”, Narayan Murthy should focus on core issues like poverty and unequal growth. Instead of going to Chattisgarh, he can just drive towards Raichur, Bellary to get a real-hand experience of equality and why he is more equal than others.”

There are popular govts elected by people at center, state and local levels to focus on core issues like poverty and unequal growth. Lets not ridicule a private citizen who is doing something useful with his own money.

“Unlike Mr. Mallya he has the qualities to get himself a seat in Rajyasabha and nor does he have a public-goodwill among the masses to get elected directly.”

When people like Bimal Jalan & Rahul Bajaj are getting nominated, I dont think BJP or Congress will refuse a RS seat for NRN.

“nor does he have a public goodwill among the masses to get elected directly”

I think there are 50,000 Infy employees and another 1,00,000 ex Infy employees in Bangalore city. We dont have a count of indirect beneficiaries like vendors of Infy and their employees. This is a solid, impregnable vote bank. If Congress wants to regain South Bangalore LS seat, they should request NRN to contest from there.

NRN deserves a more challenging task as Nilakeni, merely being a minister/president or an MLA and fighting in the Sabhas is of no use, India need to use his skills…. but will the public office make NRN also like Tharoor????

>>>Murthy’s new 2,800 sq. ft office—he’s built a floor over what is currently his home office.

I remember reading, that a kormangla home converted office was asked to vocate by the High court, coz it is supposed to be residential area!!! There was a PIL also filed for the same and court directed to find how many flauting the norm. Since so many Murty’s were doing the same, it was silently dropped/buried, except for that abdul who lost out.

This is indeed civilized racism.
In India racism is the casteism proclaimed by Vishnu who shares his wife Lakshmi. He is sarvottama for all Brahmins.
What whites did to blacks is just revisited by this Brahmin. It’s the same statement what Churchill made about Indians.
This guy transforms himself as an American and proclaims the same.
The same statement is being said from ages by Brahmins in different styles according to their comfort levels.
Forget whole country let him manage dissatisfaction of his company workers and reduce attrition! His agenda favours anglicized brahmins and their sex objects in the organization – why would anyone be proud of such a beautiful campus when it’s breeding nepotism. I need not mention the disciplined Tamil adventures in such places.

In his sixties he still has every drop of blood spurting with the same prejudice.

That is not accurate. They were asked to vacate not because Koramangala was residential area, but because they did not get Commercial building license.

Per the new (masterplan2015) norms, any plot on a road width of 59ft or more is deemed commercial. All you need to do is a commercial plan approval.

Supreme court has also ruled that if you are running your own business in your own home, that is non-poluting (noise or otherwise), you don’t need to have special commercial licenses. The only thing to be demonstrated is that the primary purpose of the place is residence, not Business.

Disappointing that NRN doesn’t want to run for office. It looks like he has called it quits and seeking to enjoy the golden years of retirement. I won’t grudge him that. He has worked diligently and made an honest buck, and has built a world class corporation in his lifetime with his friends. When I met him and Nandan Nilekani at their Jayanagar office in 1988 (when they represented Borland for packaged software and Transmatic for telex cards) they worked off a small desk in a medium sized hall with one phone. I have no doubt he would win an election anywhere in Karnataka or in most other states. But then why would he want to? Nilekani seems to be the more public spirited citizen and has been writing about working with the government for years now.

Sudha Murty in a movie about Kannada? Great idea. I am in agreement with the theme of this movie and as a Tamizhan will back it 100%. Let us promote our own languages each one of which has a such a rich tradition. The other day at work (here in the US) we were talking about how children learning music, when my Chinese-American colleague asked me how it works in India. I told my colleagues that in India it is rarer to find children learning Western music compared to the numbers learning the two main schools of Indian music (North and South). My colleagues, especially my Chinese colleague was surprised. I replied that we have time for everyone, a Bach or a Mozart or Beethoven is as valuable to us as Purandardasa, Tukaram, Kabir, Manikavasagar or Ilayaraja.

Guy is making it clear, he will work only where there is body shopping low end software engineers for low end work leveraging low wages, poverty of support staff, subservience caused by this and tax/land-grab based advantages.

Let him go. We will solve these problems ourselves – not directed by some fake messiah.

Saying this is being dismissive of great motivational capability of this man.

Considering that there were many other startups using the same Arbitrage opportunity, and also giants like TCS and better funded Wipro competing in the same space, Infosys grew faster than all of them.

And also consider his leadership ability in holding on to most of his early partners, thru think and thin, and also how he rewarded initial employee’s hardwork.

In the end, leadership is not purely luck. Ofcourse an opportunity needed to be there, but beyond that – It is sheer hardwork, dedication, discipline, ethics and skills of motivation that made it all possible.

There are so many opportunities in India today, and he surely can make a diff.

Land grab – I agree that Infy does this and that’s entirely wrong. But, mind you this started only when Nandan took over, not before. Majority of land grab happened post 2000…

***

>Please let him run Catamaran and hope that the fund creates couple of more Infys in next 10 years.

A fund never creates companies. It is the people who toil hard, and work day-in day out who can create great companies.

Catamaran is just a way of putting his money to good use. Not creating something magnificent.

I am not saying Murthy is indispensable, but he is as good as any in managing problems (Anyone who has run a IT Business in 80s will know what I am talking about), having to get license for importing computers and having to pay 120% duty, High bandwidth cost etc. These were real operational challenges.

Am not sure you are talking about the same incident, as the one I highlighted, am not able to get that link. It was after all a software company, like so many in jayanagar, kormangala, but it was singled out. There n the court asked for enumaration all guilty, as usual “mob rules in India, there was dharna and all by the residents…. it was silently buried.

Hope someone take up the issue since Murty is supposed to do due diligence, follow bylaw, ethical bla blah, oh not to mention candidate for President. As kalam said at that time “fantastic”. But am afraid he will refuse to attend, saying –talk to civilised people only.

His arrogance and that of PC is so similar, is it genetic make that they behave as such??

And where do we get these low end folks? The guy puts on a barricade there as well. He thinks Only so-called very brilliant minds who have scored very good marks academic wise and will be the main criteria for being managed by him! So much so for Equal-opportunity! He doesnt fit in here.

Yeah NRN runs sweatshops, that’s right, that’s why they invite open comments from employees on their Intranet and hire 1000s of people every year. he is a corrupt guy that’s why neither his family nor his co-founder’s families work at Infosys or inherit their way into the company. He is a corrupt guy that is why Infosys is on record demanding that software companies not be granted any export sops.

@AG
I for one for one do not recall NRN procaliming himself to be a messiah, so i wonder why we (you, me and the media and the society) try to treat him as one, is it because we assume that his forming and running of Infy as a relatively successful company makes him capable of running everything else with the same efficiency??? (a little dumb of us i suppose!)

@Ashoka, VGP
Damn… you guys brought the brahmin issue in this article too!??? Where is the damn link?? Observing todays law and government setup and govt interference in pvt sector for reservations, the brahmins are quite literally the most underprivileged of the erstwhile classes.. If and when there is a case, almost all court judgements are in favour of SC/ST/OBC etc. A brahmin has difficulty in getting jobs because he/she loses not to academic merit but to reservation for other castes! No matter what the ill practices of other communities/castes, anything practised by brahmins is bad!! With all such prejudices/handicaps in the name of justice and equality, a person who has achieved success is defamed because he is a brahmin?? Are you guys fucking retarded?
Damn, the analytical skills (verbal, social, logical, numerical and otherwise!!) in our country is abysmally disappointing! Worst part is that idiots like you are in offices of power in the administration and are pouting out reservation after reservation! Guys like you are making casteism legal instead of trying to reduce it! sheeeeeshhhh1!!!!!!

VGP is the only person making sense here. Unless Shri Murthy is willing to rip his sacred thread and convert to Buddhism, he cannot be respected. Brahmins, Brahmins, Brahmins everywhere. Their government is managing to cheat 1.2 million of my kulabandhavaru out of living on handsome government aid. If anybody from Karnataka is going to be President of India, it should be our own Devanura Mahadeva, Siddhalingayya, or K. Shivaramu.

After usurping the land of the farmers to construct a “MAYAJAAL” and showcasing it to foreign dignitaries, NRN cannot call himself “CIVILIZED”.

IT does not require hundreds of acres of land to stock Hundred thousand employees…Now where in the World such a waste of resources takes place….an Eleveted flyover to his esteemed office talks about his simplicity…..

Infoscions on the blogs lament about his mis deeds………..It is time NRN learns to keep his catamaran afloat…

Maybe. Just like your ummah brothers have been killing the kafirs for over 13 centuries just because they did not believe in a dogmatic religion of book originated in a lawless tribal middle eastern region. All in the genes.

“This is a man who has achieved great things, created a company that emplys more than 1lakh people and is responsible for the livelihoods of perhaps a million people.”

Easily more than 5 million I’d say. The persons who are ranting against Murthy here go a bit too far. Agreed that Infosys is a totally labor-arbitrage based company with horrible work culture and a stifling work environment. But hey, no one’s forcing you to join them – go and join the Googles and Microsofts and Mckinseys if you have it in you.

Else, stop cribbing like foul smelling asses and be happy with what you have. Without Labor-arbitrage based companies like Wipro/Infy etc., most of the guys who’re there today might have turned into Naxalites.

***

Rastrakoota:

“Only so-called very brilliant minds who have scored very good marks academic wise and will be the main criteria for being managed by him! So much so for Equal-opportunity! ”

This is the biggest bullshit I have heard in my life. I agree that Infy has several faults as a company, but if you expect them to recruit your anna-thamma and all their pals without any entry criteria, think again. Academic criteria might not be the best way to judge, but then, nothing’s perfect. Suggest a better way to filter out the thousands of applicants, will you?

You gripers should write to Cornell University and ask them why they invited Murthy to join the board of trustees. All external service shops thrive on labor arbitrage. Infy does and so does McKinsey, IBM, Accenture, KPMG etc., everywhere in the world. The better paying the job, the harder it is. It is not like working at the Vidhaan Soudha and strolling out for a smoke and a By-2 coffee with your friend. Those days are long gone. Infy survives and thrives because it provides valuable services to its customers. It is also a paranoid company and only too aware of its mortality, which is why everyone within works like there is no tomorrow. And listen buddies, you are not forced to work at Infy. Work where you can find a job.

I have mixed feelings about why someone like NRN donates considerable sum of money to Harvard for Murthy Classical Library Series (MCLI). But then again it is his money and he is most anxious to to be seen doing good in those circles. Very soon we will have Indian students going abroad for studies in Sanskrit and ancient Indian culture.

I have interacted with NRN couple of times, and found him to be an unassuming person. An impression that was reinforced by an annecdote by a friend.

He is Bangalore born NRI, was working for a fortune 500 company at the time (2002) and was part of a team that was working with Infosys on an Outsourced project, and for one of the meetings with executives, NRN himself had come for a meeting to their office in US.

He came to know my Friend was a Kannadiga, and after the meeting spent some time chatting up with him about his family etc. In the end NRN asked my friend “Ondu lota chnnagiro cofeee yelli sigutthe, hogi kudiyona”, and they both went out to a Dunking Donuts shop, and spent another half hour chatting up non-business related stuff with him.

My friend was floored, for he wasn’t a senior decision maker but still NRN was very humble and had shown interest in his background, just because he perhaps felt like bonding with a fellow Indian/Kannadiga among his client’s team.

In 2006 My friend permanently returned to Bangalore, He had written to NRN about his move, and NRN not only remembered him, but also asked him to consider Infosys for employment, though he didn’t take it up.

NRN is a person who speaks his mind, has very less pretensions, and he gets into trouble for speaking which may not always be Politically correct. But, he is a warm and humble human being.

More often I agree with you, but not on this. The anecdote, you mention only shows , why he did the National Anthem thing.

He wants to be president, fine, do what is required for that. Just don’t demand it as entitlement. You are not being considered by the party who h the numbers, but still you force it through as if….

You want to launch Swatantra/slaves party fine, go ahead, do the damn thing, like you did with infy. But no, you only wanted that as some pressure tactic…. now you announce your goodbye…so be it. India won’t be at loss without your massah leadership.

But don’t mouth crap like “I’m used to working with civilized people.” You did that murty when it suited you, with crap project like airport. Why??? for the hundreds of acres snatched from the “uncivilsed” people and given to you for a song???

Am sure you have seen the world and wise enough. No one ask just about anyone, unless nudge nudge, wink, wink.

Accept he wanted to be president, not because party who had power considered him, far from it, he thought he deserved it. So the not so subtle attempt to emotionally blackmail middle class through those questions and gate crash the rashtrapati bhavan.

That is ingenuous in my book. As you agree on his shameful land grab from the poor & uncivlised people and the lack of respect towards national anthem, he did not deserve to be president.

To repeat my point: Brahmins were historically perceived to be on top of Social hierarchy, just as they are today. Even Brahmins were fooled by such a system, into thinking they are not supposed to venture out beyond their limited brief of ‘pooja phaat’..

These systems were done by the Kings of the day, who were invariably from other castes (Mostly lower caste) – Pandya, Chera, Chola, Vijaynagar Kings, Rashtrakoota, Hoysala, Pallava, Gupta, Maurya, Bhosle (Shivaji was born to a lower caste parents, declared himself a Kshatriya on the event of his coronation).

Effectively, Brahmins were put on an ivory tower, told not to acquire skills that were relevant for livelihood (Engineering, Medicine, Business etc. were prohibited). The only livelihood for them was being Purohits and begging/dakshina (the scriptures mandate this).

Only after British came in to India, Brahmins started learning more professional skills, and also ventured out into agriculture.

Check the facts. Infosys got most of its land allotments post-Murthy period. It was nandan’s brain wave. And yes, it is a model showed by Congies – No doubt what so ever about that.

Murhty grew Infosys to a $1b entity between 1984-2002. The biggest land acquisition he made till then was some 70acres in Bangalore for their biggest campus anywhere in the world. This favorably compares with other large campuses in Bangalore (intel, Wipro, TCS).

Most of the unjustifiably large (few hundred acres at once) land acquisitions happened post 2000. He was only an honorary chairman (non-executive meaning he doesn’t take routine decisions). Nandan was in charge then.

>murty not showing respect of national anthem

This is the biggest BS being purported by a few. Don’t believe it. National anthem is played by Bands (not sung) in all sorts of occasions. Even in govt. functions it is a police band that plays the Anthem, and everyone stands up during that time.

In that occasion, murhty asked for it be played instead of sung, because there were guests who didn’t know the anthem. But, they respectfully stood up in attention while it was played, thus following the norm.

You seem to have mastered the art of defending murthy with your shield. Blame on Nandan, while Murthy reaps the benefits as the largest shareholder.

The kind of brash crony capitalism has resulted in Murthy creating a largesse for himself. Talk about Billionaires India has the largest number. Talk of BPL again India has the largest number. The real wealth of the Country are the masses or the Citizens, but unfortunately the Anil Agarwal,Murthy,Mukesh, Anil have amassed it systematically.

Gharibi Hatao has to be reworded as Gharibi Dikhao…..Looting farmland….iron ore…threatening farmers indirectly through elected govt’s……

Laws are in favor of the Ultra Rich in the Country…..Common man either becomes a Naxalite or just a number in the statistics of this country…..

Murthy talks about lofty ideals and has created a sweatshop of no real value….

Murty donates tonnes of dollars to Cornell where his son has been studying. When it comes to buying land in India, it is usurped through treachery….

You need to research about murthy before you blindly defend him…….

It does not require 2400 square feet to house one employee….Go read the statistics of land acquisition vis a vis the number of employees in Infosys….. Golf court, lawns, etc….ethical practice or charity begins at home.

Crony capitalistic model was brought in to India through License permit raj, under which the state decided who should have what and how much.. Even today that hasn’t changed much.

***

Tarlemaga:
>It does not require 2400 square feet to house one employee….

I am not justifying the Infosys practices at all. In fact, I don’t justify forcible acquisition of land by govt. for any purpose.

The problem is trying to measure everything in Black and white. If BJP is good, then congress has to be bad and vice versa! Similarly a person is either good or he is _BAAD_

The reality is in shades, and Murthy is closer to the white shade than most people you’ll ever come across. If you are looking for a pure white, non-fault person, then you are looking for an unborn.

There are many folks who have applied for land thru BDA allotment. BDA acquires from hapless farmers and gives it away to middle class. Morally – That is equally wrong, but you won’t characterize a person applying/getting an allotment as a bad person and call him names would you?

> while Murthy reaps the benefits as the largest shareholder

Again this is not a fact – just perception. AFAIK, Murthy is not the largest shareholder, for many years.

>You need to research about murthy

If I can cultivate even half the good value system Murthy has (hardwork, focus of purpose, high motivation, simple living), i’ll be thankful.

For sure Internet is full of crap about him and so many others. Most of it will be unjustified BS. Some will be true, but then if you are even 10% as accomplished as murthy, you are sure to have some amount of negatives, like wanting to own wealth, Mad drive to grow etc.

heck, Mahatma Gandhi had shades that can’t be explained till date, Murthy is no where close to that man!
Which is one of my biggest grouse with Vajpayee regime.. They had 7 year run of this country and could’ve changed that lousy model. They didn’t.

**

Tarle:
>Murthy talks about lofty ideals and has created a sweatshop of no real value….

Define Value (then real value). If creating livelihood opportunity for above half a million people (some say even more), is not of real value, then what is?

You really need to get real. You have found several biased ‘facts’ to justify your bias towards brahminism, BJP, NRN. Infy….

Lesson- people like you will never change. You are not after truth, you are after maintaining the status quo and screwing people as was done for hundreds (make it thousands) of years which led to enslaving of Indians, foreign domination for centuries. I only hope these shameless manipulations of screwing fellow Indians stop. Say sorry on behalf of your forefathers’ attocities and sins committed in the name of religion/caste and move on.

Facts are never biased. They just are facts. It is opinions that may be biased if they are not based on facts.

>people like you will never change

Again a wrong inference. From being a BJP supporter early, I don’t like BJP now, but am open to supporting to BJP in future. Similarly – from having a opinion about 10 years back that Kashmiri’s deserve a chance at self-determination, I have changed my opinion now.

Just because I don’t agree with you, It doesn’t make me a rigid person. Bring on the facts, instead of attacking me… Show me how Brahmins ever ruled in this country.

If you can’t then accept that your opinions are biased, not based on facts.

>you are after maintaining the status quo and screwing people as was done for hundreds (make it thousands) of years

I was only born some 40 odd years ago.. And have had any independent mind only for about 20 odd years. Impossible that I could’ve screwed people for hundreds of years. I don’t think I or my children should be punished or say sorry for something my ancestors may or may not have done. If that’s an acceptable way, then Christians and Muslim’s should say sorry to Hindus, Shivites to Vaishnavites, and Hindu’s to Buddhists (and vice versa) etc.

I don’t want status quo – If you search and read my other posts in Churumuri, you’ll realize that . I am not denying there were social evils, untouchability and cruel subjugation. My only argument is – Brahmins are blamed wrongly.

Instead of just calling me Biased, do present ‘facts’, not just opinions.

***

Khan/Chriskb:

>particularly hell bent on re-writing the history.

he he… I am not trying to justify Brahminism. I just don’t like victimization of any section.

And, I am quoting from History, not trying to rewrite. History as written for past 200 years, by various folks..

I have sighted facts, as written by others. Out of some 20 odd major dynasties of India in past 2000 years, close to 80% of them were of Shudra/Low-caste or of non-Hindu origins. Blaming Brahmins for ills is convenient, but they never ruled.

Leaving out ‘mythical’ kings, list out the historic kings and check their caste… You’ll know if I was disputing history.

Leaving out Kadamba Dynasty, Brahmins never ruled in past 2000 years. Even before, Only Shunga Dynasty can be sighted. They are only an convenient scape goat to blame all ills.

If you are thinking History says otherwise, Please sight your references to dispute this fact.

***

Jobless Engineering stud(end)?:

This writer talks about ‘Murhty angadi’ using loopholes in the system in US.

A loophole is basically an oversight in regulations/law. Happens all the time. For example, in India the tax laws were such that any facilities provided by the companies (other than non-salary) were exempt from Taxation. Almost every company & Employee used that loophole to get a good portion of their compensation thru that method. Even today, there are many such avenues where Compensation is drawn under heads which attract lesser Tax.

So, this is a common practice – working within a system – lawfully.

Some people are perhaps jealous, upset, angry, unappreciative of Infy & NRN’s achievements. Perhaps they feel Infy owes them something.. But, the mean spirited attacks will only show them up.

After watching it, the matter is very clear that Murthy is not blaming the UPA. He “feels sad” that an image of corruption has come about, even though he personally “knows” that PM Singh and Sonia Gandhi (whom he knows “extremely well”) are both honest. Now where is the attack ? I don’t find any !

Fortunately it is all in the family (Murthy was a share holder in NDTV sometime ago).